Tokyo Ghoul: Root B
by The-Fangirls-Umbrella
Summary: What if there were three American ghouls that had been there with Hide and Kaneki from the start? Blair, Gracen, and Koral are three female American ghouls who have all been best friends with Kaneki and Hide since they were kids. What Kaneki and Hide don't know is that the girls are ghouls. Madness ensues. With help from LinkArceusCarstairs7501.
1. Chapter 1

1

She shifted in her sleep, her fanned out pale hair tangling as she moved. Waking, her eyes barely cracked open before she rolled over again to face the window. Movie expectations be damned; if someone actually woke up shooting out of bed drenched in sweat with eyes wide open after having a nightmare, they had bigger issues than what they were seeing in their sleep.

She groaned as she reached out a blind hand to pull the blinds closed and cover the early morning light. Her stomach ached as she sat up, eyes still closed and mouth watering. Crossing her legs, she twisted quickly to snatch her cell phone off the nightstand and sat it in front of her. Leaning her back against the headboard of the bed, she yawned while waiting for the phone to ring. Her eyes grew heavier and heavier as she waited until she gave out a final yawn and…

 _Buzz… Buzz… Buzz…_

 **Call From:**

 _Panda Blair_

"Hello?" She croaked in the phone speaker, her hand shaking as she held the phone and stretched out her arms at the same time.

"Cinnamon Roll, you're awake!" A voice chirped into the phone. She groaned. It was too early in the morning for chirping, let alone being awake.

"Hi Blair," she answered. "Am I late for my shift again?"

"Nah, you've still got… two. Two hours."

She sighed in relief, her head hitting the headboard again while she subtly began to nestle back into her blankets. "Then what'd you call me for this time?"

"I honestly didn't think you'd be awake by this hour, and neither did Gray, and Kaneki agreed with both of us―"

"I'M GOING TO _KILL_ THAT STARCHY HAIRED PIECE OF―"

"Oh shush, you fluffy piece of trash," Blair interrupted smoothly. "You can hardly swat a fly away; catching Hide and actually hurting him would be something I don't ever think your magical coffee could give you the power to do. Beside, I was the one took the dare. Fight me, Cinnamon Roll. Fight. Me."

She made a whining sound before shaking her head and squinting at the closed blinds. She sighed when a weird feeling came over her."What day is today?"

"The first of October. Saturday. Why do you ask, Cinnamon Roll?"

She shook her head as if Blair could see her, gnawing on her free thumb nail. " 'Nuffin," she hummed before smiling. " 'Nuffin muffin. 'Nuffin muffin button." She frowned. "That doesn't rhyme."

Blair agreed over the phone. "Indeed it does not."

"Oh shush you," she snapped back. "You… You… Fellow American?"

"Well you're not wrong, Koral," Blair laughed as Koral groaned and threw the covers back over her head.

"Is there any other reason you called me at," she paused to check her phone, her warm breath heating her face under the blankets, "four-thirty in the goddamn morning?"

"Besides being able to get paid five hundred yen? Nah. Just do me a favor and text Hide that I called you, alright?"

"Wait, can't you just tell him yourse―"

"Byyyye Cinnamon Roll!"

Koral sighed as the other end of the line clicked. Rolling onto her back, she held up her phone as she punched in the numbers and letters and texted Hide.

 **To: Stupid Face :P**

 _You are so dead and owe BMW 500 yen._

His response was almost immediate.

 **From: Stupid Face :P**

 _I dared her to do that 3 weeks ago! So not cool…_

Koral scowled, now knowing that Blair had just been saving up the excuse to aggravate Koral. She smirked though, still liking the idea of bugging and messing with her friend. Besides,

 **To: Stupid Face :P**

 _Don't worry, I'm American; your death will be quick and painless. Electric chair or injection?_

 **From: Stupid Face :P**

 _.-._

 **To: Stupid Face :P**

 _Firing squad it is. BMW, the Plant, and I shall be executing u 8 today at Anteiku. Be there or be |=|!_

 **From: Stupid Face :P**

 _You know if i didn't know any better, i would think you just secretly asked me out. p.s. |=| is a rectangle, not a square._

 **To: A Dead Man x_x**

 _Next tim = a ded man is what you shall b. XO p.s. leave me alone, i'm sleep deprived._

 **From: A Dead Man x_x**

 _\\(*O*)/ I'll try not to late for my own death. XO p.s. If i bribe you w/ 500 yen and still come, can I not be killed? Pretty please?_

 **To: LOSER**

 _*sigh* Buy me a cup of coffee too and you live another day. Loser. Now let me sleep!_

 **From: The Plant (*^*)**

 _Still flirting w/ Hide?_

Koral frowned at the new text. _These people need to stop being annoying psychics…_

 **From: LOSER**

 _Deal. Now zzzleep! (get it?! :D)_

 **To: The Plant (*^*)**

 _No. Now let me sleep you crazy ppl! I only have an hour left before i have to get up again and go 2 work._

 **From: The Plant (*^*)**

 _If u r so tired, then why r u txting?_

 **To: The Plant (*^*)**

 _. GOODNIGHT/MORNING._

 **From: The Plant (*^*)**

 _Good luck._


	2. Chapter 2

2

She looked around the room with her phone in hand still in her hand, her knees tucked underneath her as she sat on the edge of the rooftop of Koral's apartment complex. Skateboard lying behind her, phone in hand, Blair wondered if she could make the jump onto the next rooftop.

Standing up, she stretched out her arms before stuffing her skateboard into her backpack before darting off with a running start. Once at the edge of the roof, she kicked off the ledge with her heels before moving in the air to fall at a diagonal angle, the balls of her feet hitting the next roof first. Kicking off again into another run that would lead into another run, Blair kept running and jumping from roof to roof. Finally, she got herself to the flat roof until she found the one with the fence and trap door opening.

Scaling the fence, Blair swung her legs over the top before jumping down to the rooftop floor. She swung her skateboard out of the backpack before hopping onto the board and kicking off, skating over the short distance to the trap door and kicking the busted latch open making the trap door flip up in turn.

"Hello?" She called down the hole as she slid down the ladder. "Any unwanted visitors in my bakery?"

"Just a freeloader," a voice echoed back, obviously from the kitchen. _Ah, Gray,_ Blair though fondly before looking around her and stuffing her backpack into one of the four cubbies on the wall behind the ladder. She walked through the already opened door before hopping onto her skateboard and skating over through the halls before facing her old foe: the stairs.

Hopping down and skipping steps, she took a left turn around a corner when she hit the floor and found herself staring at Gracen sitting at the bar of the island on a stool, gnawing on a hand. Gracen's eyes usual brown doe eyes had turned ghoul, those black sclera with red irises and tight veins. Their mousy brown hair had changed from its usual flyaway tufts, to a rough-looking and matted androgynous pixie-cut mess. They raised a calloused hand and smirked a little. "Wassup?"

"Hey freeloader." Blair replied, kicking her skateboard underneath the island in the middle of the kitchen before going to the opposite side of the island from Gracen. Rinsing off her hands, she looked up to see Gracen trying to pick the nails out of the hand they were eating. "Watch out―don't accidentally leave one in and choke!" She started to turn before drying her hands off on a towel and then looking up at Gracen with a raised eyebrow. "And please don't make a mess. You're not spoiling your appetite, are you?"

"Nah, don't worry." Gracen answered. "Just got caught with Uta and helping him design some masks. Been almost a month since either of us ate. I had to go find some scum-bag to eat without guilt." They began to wave the hand around almost comically while rolling their eyes. Blair watched them as she began to mix blood and some of the ingredients to make her pie. "Funny how it is, you know? All those scumbags out there and most of the time you have to hold back, tellin' yourself, _can't eat that one because then the Doves'll snag ya._ But the minute you're starving and so is someone else you need to help out―" They paused to wave their hands in the air dramatically, Blair still nodding and watching while she whisked the pie batter into perfection "―takes forever and a day to find a damn one."

"Well why didn't you call Koral or me?" Blair interrupted, pouring the batter into the tin, careful to make circles as she poured. "We would've killed someone _for_ you!"

Gracen shook their head while waving her off. "Nah, Koral whines and it just would've felt wrong. Besides, Uta likes particular food and just… Eh. But I'm all good now. See?" They referenced to the hand while Blair was pushing the baking tin into the oven and kicking the oven door shut.

"Yes, I see. And that skeleton hand is dripping blood. Like I said before, don't make a mess."

"Yeah, yeah." Gracen muttered as they wiped the blood off their chin and licked the skeleton clean before tossing the hand into the garbage bin a few feet away. They stood and brushed their hands off on their pants. "Well, I best be off. Still need to find another corpse to split with Uta. One split between the two of us still won't let us both get through the month."

"Of course," Blair acknowledged while hopping onto the counter and twirling one of the kitchen knives on her finger. Waiting for pies to bake was more of a pain than actually making the pies, sadly. "Don't do anything I wouldn't do."

Gracen's laugh echoed through bakery. "Nobody in hell would be stupid enough to do anything _you_ wouldn't do."

" **So, what're you** doing here on your day off?" Kaneki asked politely, hooking his bag to the top of the chair before sitting down across the table from Blair. She looked up from her book ( _Will Grayson, Will Grayson_ by John Green, in case anybody's wondering) and smiled at Kaneki. Smiles from Blair were sometimes hard to come by, but never for Kaneki. His gray eyes glinted back at her as he smiled back genuinely.

Shutting her book and pushing it to the side, she sighed before leaning back in her seat and gesturing back over to the bar where Koral was muttering angrily to Touka about something while pouring coffee. "Koral whined about being lonely when business gets slow. So I decided to throw her a bone for once and be a little nice." She smirked at her joke before fiddling with the hem of her fitted black t-shirt and swinging her legs around above the floor, thanks to the high chair. "Not that I'm really helping; I just keep ordering more and more coffee for her to make whenever more people show up."

"You know, I keep noticing how everybody comments on Koral's whininess," Kaneki remarked, also looking over at the silver-haired girl before stealing a look at Blair. "She might be less whiny if we were a bit nicer to her."

"Nah," Blair immediately shot back. "Then she'd whine about sucking up to her for something. You know how stingy and weird that idiot is."

The door opened and both Blair and Kaneki looked over to the door before raising their eyebrows at Hide striding in and over to their table. Once at their table, he slapped Kaneki on the back while he dug around in his pockets. "Kaneki, Blair, fancy seeing you two here!"

"Hey, Hide," Kaneki replied, glaring at the blonde when he raised his eyebrows at Kaneki and Blair.

"Sup." Blair responded before kicking Hide swiftly in shin with a blank face.

"Oh not much," Hide wheezed, still digging around in his pockets. Finally, he pulled out a wad of bills and smacked five onto the table. "Five hundred yen for the BMW," he explained as he slid it over to Blair before he whirled around called out with the leftover bills in his fist. "And five hundred yen for the lovely silver-haired waitress!"

While Blair rolled her eyes and Kaneki blushed for Koral, they all looked over to Koral suddenly whirling around and fiddling with cups. "Damnit Touka!" They all heard her hiss in the quiet of the shop, all the other customers peering around the corner from the other side of the shop. "Where's the damn water thing?"

"I don't know, American Idiot. Why don't you try being more specific and looking with your own damn eyes?" Touka shot back sarcastically before reaching over the bar and plucking the money out of Hide's hand with one hand and picking up the water pitcher with the other. "Here," she snapped before shoving both things at Koral. "These were _both_ behind you." Koral had barely been able to begin to mutter a "Thanks" before Touka shot back in a harsh, "Now get back to work!"

"Hey," Hide said while leaning against the bar and raising his eyes at Koral as she turned around, her knuckles white as a ghost's as she clutched the cup of coffee she had just poured. "That one's on me." He offered the leftover bills. "For you. So you don't kill me!"

Koral quickly snatched the money before stuffing it in the cash register and setting out the coffee for him. "Just take it and pay me double. I'll make myself one right before my break."

"Ugh, they just need to kiss already," Blair groaned while Hide persisted that Koral go ahead and take her break, how she worked too hard, and the blushing silver-haired girl would retort how he would get her fired if he didn't leave her alone until her break. Kaneki pinkened at Blair's bluntness. "It's disgusting how oblivious they are while at the same time aren't. It's so disgusting in fact," she started as she stood while stretching out her arms, "that I am leaving."

She picked up her book and stuffed it in her bag while shooting daggers over at Koral and Hide, who were still bickering over the coffee. It bothered Blair how often Koral and Hide would flirt in such a painfully obvious way, but still danced around each other like they didn't know how the other felt. It was painstakingly annoying and a waste of time.

"Oh, alright," Kaneki mumbled as he rifled through his bag to get his book. He looked up to see Blair standing next to him, staring at him with those wide and owlish eyes. "Hmm? Is something wrong, Blair?"

"Nah, I was just wondering what book you were reading this time. It looked familiar, so I couldn't remember if I had seen someone else reading it too."

He held up the cover to show her the plain cover of _The Black Goat's Egg_. "Who'd see reading it? Koral? I wouldn't be surprised if so. She and you have a good taste in books, and this author really is fantastic with her writing."

"No, it wasn't Koral." Blair forced a shrug, but it looked natural to everyone else. "Must've been someone else. Well, I'll be back later. See you around, Kaneki."

"Bye Blair!" Kaneki called and waved to her as she began to walk out the shop and Hide took her place in the seat she had been sitting in. Blair didn't even bother to turn around again; if she did, she knew she'd make a face at the disgusting creature sitting not-too-far-away. If she turned around he would notice her face and turn to see the monster, but in a different light. She was hoping he wouldn't notice the purple-haired girl reading the same book that he had been. Nothing would be the same if he saw her.

 **Blair left Anteiku** still hoping Kaneki wouldn't be stupid enough to talk to Rize. She remembered Hide teasing him about liking some girl, but Blair doubted it was Rize. If anyone, it was probably Blair. She liked Kaneki, too, but didn't want to be wrong on her guesses. It didn't happen often, but there were the occasions. And jeopardizing their friendship because of a stupid crush wasn't worth the risk. Besides, it wasn't like she could actually love a human.

She hiked her bag up some more onto her shoulder thinking about how Kaneki would react to finding out the monstrous truth about her. It wasn't like they had ever discussed the subject of ghouls together, nor in the group. She didn't know Kaneki or Hide's opinion on her kind, but it wasn't like she thought it would be anything different than most humans. It didn't really bother her with the fact of what she was; if anything, it was more annoying how big of a deal it was rather than just being who she was.

Being a ghoul wasn't a sin in her mind. It was being alive, just like how humans live.

 _If I was born and am living just like they are, I have just as much of a right to keep living as they do. Terrorists do more harm than me and they'll still negotiate with people like them sometimes. Don't see why they can't do the same for someone like me._


	3. Chapter 3

3

 **This wasn't going** to end well. Gracen could already tell they had picked the wrong night to go hunting in this neighborhood. On every other corner they kept encountering a pair of Doves. _Maybe we shouldn't get another body. We had enough to tie us over, we could turn in before it gets ugly._

"Should we turn in before something happens?" Uta asked quietly from underneath his gray hoodie that hung off of frame loosely over the waistband of his loose jeans. Gracen mulled it over while never losing their impassive face, emotions brewing under the mask.

"Hey look, runners." A voice said from the fire escape above them. Uta and Gracen looked up to see Blair leaning over the railing her eyes trailing after two joggers, a smirk on her mouth before frowning. "I've seen that one before, the ginger..."she trailed off biting her lower lip in thought eyes glancing at the two of them.

"What's up, Blair?"

"Me right now. I was just wondering, Gray," Gracen met Blair's gaze, "are you still hungry? I bet we can corner them in the next alley. What do you say, Uta?" Uta merely shrugged as Gracen gave a curt nod. "Good. Criminals are usually easier to get away with killing and eating."

"Should you be saying that aloud like that?" Gracen prodded, standing up straighter as Uta cooly draped an arm around their shoulders. They looked at him only to see his soft smile and smiled back quickly before flicking their eyes back to Blair.

"Maybe not." Her teeth flashed in the shadows at the pair underneath her. "But who cares? Besides, Koral might be hungry too." Gracen wanted to back down for a second. They warred if it was worth it. This was another murder. "Come on, climb onto the roof. This will be quick. Or leave me to it. I can just give you guys the spoils of war."

"Gracen, do you want to help her?" Uta inquired quietly in their ear. Gracen steeled their resolve and nodded climbing up ahead of Uta as the three of them dashed to the roof and jumped their way to the next alley, Blair leaping onto the street, kagune peeking out slightly in her decent, Uta and Gracen going into the alley. A pair of screams followed their landing.

" **Cinnamon Roll!" Blair** called as Koral locked up shop, blood flecked across her carefree expression as she came up the street to the silver-haired girl. "What's up?"

"Nothing, I'm just locking up the shop." Koral turned to her friend to look her over before frowning and stating in a very deadpan voice, "There's blood on your face."

"Yes, yes there is, Cinnamon Roll. Very observant of you."

Koral sighed before turning the key to the door and stuffing the keys into her pocket. She had changed out of her Anteiku uniform and into a casual pair jean shorts over a pair of black tights, with a white tee underneath a flannel jacket. Her black high tops scraped against the pavement as she turned towards Blair. "What were you doing all day?"

"Ayato and I went out. Doing this and that, seeking entertainment. Screwing with ghouls. The usual. How was work? As boring as ever?" Blair walked in bored circles around the silver-haired girl, occasionally picking up a strand of Koral's hair only to drop it back in place before Koral could be fast enough to swat her hand away.

"Damn Touka always yelling at me," she huffed before shoving her hands into her coat pockets. Her eyes lingered to an empty bench that a little way ahead. "I may need a minute for a stress smoke."

"Destroying your lungs comes later." Blair instructed with a flick of the wrist that would have been girly on anyone else but on Blair it looked a little lethal. "First, we fricking get to go see Uta's and Gray's new mask designs. Gracen invited us along and I answered yes while you were working and I stole your phone when you weren't paying attention."

Koral glared her gray-blue eyes through her thick glasses at the brunette before bumping her shoulder into Blair's with a smile. "Alright, I guess it sounds like it could be fun. Let's go."

The two of them walked side by side making idle chit-chat as they walked before Blair's phone went off as they entered Uta's shop. Blair glared at it stepping back outside, leaving Koral inside with Uta and Gracen. After a little while, Koral stuck her head out to check on Blair.

"Psst, hey." Blair turned as she hung up her call to see the smaller girl hanging out of the doorway lazily. "You ready to come join us again? You were the one who said yes to _both_ of us coming and participating, you know."

"I'm coming, I'm coming. You impatient little cinnamon roll." Blair waved Koral off before smirking at the sight of her friend smiling and skipping back into the shop. She trailed the giddy girl and wondered how she could go from so grumpy and huffy to so perky and giggly so quickly. _Must be something in the blood._

About two hours of chatting and laughing with just a bit of pranking each other later, and the group disbanded. Blair set off in a run once out the door with a loud brash farewell as Gracen stayed helping Uta clean up. Koral helped a little before complaining about aching feet, leading to Gracen shooing her out.

The girl moved easily with little stress as she walked through the illuminated streets back to her house in near silence, contemplating a smoke.


	4. Chapter 4

4

" **Excuse me?"** Blair spat hands flat on the table. "What the crap? Did you not think to call his emergency contacts or are you too thickheaded to even do that?" Anger rolled off of her in waves before she dashed away from the desk bursting into the room unannounced, the soft blue of her eyes flashing in hatred.

Kaneki looked at her in shock as she glared at him. "I feel hatred for the staff at this place and anger at you." She informed him sitting at the edge of his bed arms crossed over her chest, one foot on the bed. "Care to explain?"

"I..." He looked down at his linked fingers. A million words ran through his head but nothing he could put into a sentence that made any sense. "It was all an accident. I don't know what happened." He told her touching his chin. "Why are you angry with _me?_ " He asked her, gray eyes confused.

"Because my emotions are screwy, punk." He gave her a soft smile lowering his hand. "Getting crushed with a pile of steel beams. What are the odds?" she muttered angrily. "Hide is on his way with Koral by the way." A nurse walked in and Blair gave her a bored look as the nurse gave her a startled look back.

"Ma'am, you are aware it isn't visiting hours aren't you?"

"Of course. But considering I wasn't contacted last night of my friend's accident despite being an emergency contact, I think I should make up for lost time." Blair's smile was charming and over-sweetened as the nurse stood there unsure of what to make of her. "It's only fair, you all fail me and deny me seeing him, I get to make up time after I find out."

"But he needs his rest."

"And I need to rip out your throat. Looks like not everyone gets what they need." The nurse looked shocked speechless before Kaneki spoke up.

"I don't mind if they come see me." He told her softly, staring at his hands again. The nurse nodded awkwardly before Koral and Hide appeared, Hide going to sit next to Kaneki a big smile on his face, built with worry.

As the boys started talking to each other, Koral, oblivious to being in front of humans lifted her nose and sniffed before saying, "I smell two of them."

Blair looked at her sharply before pulling her over to the corner away from the boys, eyes glazed in daggers and boredom. "Yeah, it's Rize's scent. Shut up with it. You're not a dog," she snapped in a hushed whisper at Koral.

Koral breathed in deeper through her nose, obviously just to be petty about the dog comment, but blinking. Her usual stormy eyes softened with an obvious uncertainty and unease."But I smell Rize," she muttered. It was a well known fact in the ghoul community (if you knew both Koral and Rize) that the two had never gotten along and the last time they had met each other… well, it hadn't been pretty. They had never gone as far as to fight to the point of too harsh of scarring, but Koral had always shown a balanced half-fearful and half-disgusted towards Rize.

"Kaneki went on a date with Rize, and they were in close quarters. Smells linger. Now shut up and tell Kaneki hi." Blair replied, her voice still a snap of a hushed-whisper, before she turned and said towards the oblivious boys, "Kaneki, eat your fish!" Hide laughed before saying something to Kaneki that made the dark-haired boy chuckle as Blair turned fully away from Koral, rolling her eyes and muttering, "Annoyance."

"Whatever you say." Koral mumbled before adding through a cough, "Miss in-denial." Blair glared at her sharply before Koral smiled and said a little louder, "I'm going to go get some coffee."

"Good, go do something besides pine." Blair told her, flopping down on the empty bed in the room closing her eyes, feeling internally overwhelmed.

"Pine? Excuse me?" Koral questioned.

"Yes, get out of here instead of pining over," Blair sat up, opening her eyes to looking Hide before looking back at Koral, who blushed with a scowl on her face. "Go get your coffee, white girl."

"I'm going, I'm going. Miss in-denial. And you're just as white as me, jerk"

"I hope you fall and die on your way back."

"Thanks!"

"Oh, and I hope the ghouls eat you. Or maybe you'd be too bitter for their taste." Koral left the room rolling her eyes as Blair laid back down, listening to the gentle lull of the boys talking to each other. When she sat up again, the fish was hardly touched and Kaneki looked miserable, even as he spoke to Hide.

"What are you staring at?" Hide asked Blair who shrugged easily.

"Lost in thought." She responded before looking at Kaneki. "Kaneki, why didn't you eat your fish?"

"I… can't. I don't feel too good." He answered softly, staring at the plate of food. "I don't really want it."

"Alright, just don't starve yourself to death." Blair replied.

" **Gray!" Blair called** shrugging on her jacket. Gracen's head of messy brown hair popped up from their position behind the bar sketching at Blair's call. "I'm running Kaneki some food on my break. Be back soon, alright? Tell Koral she's alone for fifteen minutes. And don't let her smoke near the kitchen. It'll ruin my cake. Bad smells. Good noses."

"Alright, later." Gracen bid their farewell before Blair was on her skateboard, navigating the sidewalks of Tokyo. When she got to Kaneki's place, she just let herself in, never being one for formalities, and decided she chose a sucky time to open the door. Because in front of her was Kaneki attempting to stab himself with a kitchen knife that bent as it made contact, his eyes wide and fearful.

"Bad timing," Blair said. Kaneki looked up at her eyes wide. "Were you stabbing yourself with a plastic knife as a practice for suicide or something? Do we need to talk?" Kaneki looked horrified watching Blair walk in the room, her foot closing the door behind her leaning her skateboard against his kitchen counter. "Killing yourself solves nothing. Alright. Suicide is crappy. Especially after your brush with death."

"Blair I―"

"I'll make you some coffee. Why don't you go lay down? I also brought you some homemade cookies, and Hide added in some more of those burgers you love so much." He still hadn't moved as Blair started to made him a pot of coffee, casually tossing the destroyed knife onto the counter with a comfortable ease.

"What are you doing here?" Kaneki tried to sound as casual as Blair was acting, but ultimately failed. Blair chose to ignore his cracking voice.

"Checking in on you recluse. You haven't answered any of us in quite a while." She looked at him calmly, tensing slightly as his left eye flashed black and crimson.

A ghoul eye.

 _Crap life,_ Blair thought shooing him to the living room despite his questions. _Now there's another ghoul in the ward. Ugh. I hate anomalies. Since when was he a ghoul?_

Pushing away the aggravating thoughts, she gave him some coffee and hesitated on the inside with the cookies. She had brought ghoul friendly cookies for herself. Deciding the worst that would happen in either situation was puking, she pulled out her ghoul cookies and gave one to Kaneki, who instantly looked sick. "Trust me, you should be able to stomach this. If not, the burger should do."

"Blair I really can't―"

"Do it to amuse me. If you can't eat this, I'll leave it be. But I need you to give it a go." Kaneki hesitated before picking up the cookie. It looked like an average run of the mill chocolate chip cookie. Kaneki hesitated again eyes flicking up to Blair's impassive stare before biting down on the cookie. After a moment, shock twisted his features.

He swallowed. "I didn't throw up."

"Unfortunately," Blair muttered as she stood up.

"What is that supposed to mean?" He asked as Blair's phone went off.

"Oh look, the trash is calling," Blair commented before silencing her _Holding On_ by Pillar ringtone. "Ignoring that." Blair went to the kitchen picking up the knife flicking the bent metal. "Look at that, it's a real knife too."

Kaneki looked panicked as Blair stood in the kitchen spinning the knife between her scarred fingers. "Blair I can―"

"You can't explain what you don't know. Rize was a ghoul. You knew that. Only too late. Now…"

"They gave me her organs." Kaneki said in a dead, almost remorse, tone. His eyes were glued back to the bitten cookie in his hand.

Blair sighed irritably. "Now you smell like her. It sucks. We noticed in the hospital, Koral pointed it out. I didn't want it to be true, but the knife didn't kill you―" she clenched her fist as the word _kill_ passed her lips― "you could eat my ghoul-friendly cookie, and your left eye went ghoul." She blinked, letting her ghoul eyes slip out only to see Kaneki's terrified reaction. "You're a little ghoul," she finished letting her ghoul eyes slip away, "with little control."

"You're a… but, I mean… I don't understand. You were one all along? Now I'm a…" He couldn't bring himself to say it. That damned word. A doomed classification, the label of hellish demons that gave children nightmares. _Ghoul._ An eater of humans. A word that invited fear, a word that now described _him_.

"I'm a ghoul. You're a ghoul. Get with the program Kaneki. You now eat people, are hunted relentlessly by doves, and by feared by all who believe in you. What else is there to know, Ken?" Kaneki pressed his lips together holding himself together with sheer force of will. Her tone was frank and icy, those thoughts haunting her as well. It was taking everything in being to not just walk out of there with the excuse of going to get more food.

"I don't want to be a ghoul," he choked out a tear running down his face. Blair shrugged blandly, her eyes flicking away from his tear. She didn't know how to deal with the feeling that tear gave her.

 _Just pretend it isn't there._

"Hardly anyone does. It's a scary life out here." Blair picked up her phone tossing the knife aside. "When did you eat last?"

"Before the accident." He managed through gritted teeth, more tears slipping past his lashes.

 _Not there, not there, not there._

"I'll get you food. In the meantime, eat those cookies. They won't make you sick, as you've already seen. Anyway, I've got a call to make. This should go without saying, but don't leave the house yet." She eyed the phone that was sitting on the coffee table next to the rest of the food that would never be eaten. A light blinked, signaling voicemails unlistened to and texts unread. "Although you can answer your phone for Hide, you know."

Stepping outside of the apartment― _finally, I can breathe again―_ with her skateboard in hand, she dialed Gracen's number, trusting her not to chew her out for ignoring a phone call wanting to get Kaneki food as soon as she could. "Hey-o," Gracen answered in a sing-song voice, humming a little. "I just need to get this out before I forget: Koral's fuming. You're late."

"Yeah yeah, tell that little _thing_ to give you a package of stuff and get to the halfway point to Kaneki's. I'll meet you there soon."

"You sound like you're dealing drugs. Did you forget to eat?" Blair found it almost funny how Gracen had just seen her eat the night before and they were questioning if _she_ had forgotten to eat.

"That's not the problem _this_ time. We have a new Rize named Kaneki." The line was quiet aside from the chatter of the restaurant. "Just hurry, I'll meet up with you soon." Blair said to the silent line before hanging up and stepping back inside looking at Kaneki who was curled up on the ground, head on his knees. Everything inside of her twisted unexpectedly as if someone had rammed a fist into her stomach. But no one had.

 _Crap, feelings._

He looked up as she walked in, tears on his face. "What do I do?" He asked with a broken voice matching his shattered expression.

Blair didn't move for a second, watching him. It was weird watching someone cry. She couldn't make heads or tails of it. Maybe she should have asked Gracen what to do about Kaneki's emotional state or texted Uta even. "Sit tight till I get you food. It should take around twenty minutes unless I go out for a fresh kill―which I won't," she added smoothly with natural ease at the sight of his eyes widen slightly in fear.

"So you… You kill people?" Blair nodded followed by a shrug. "I don't want to," he let out a little sob. "I don't want to eat people. I can't kill!" Another sob escaped him as Blair set aside her skateboard clenching her hands into fists.

"It's that or die, Ken. So..." _I don't want you to die. I want you to stick around with us for a while, or preferably even more than a while._ The sentence hung there unfinished before Blair sighed, unable to finish the thought aloud. It was all too damn emotional for her to say. "Eating people sucks but it's… the only way to live for us. That's all we want." Her voice was icy and dark with a soft undertone. "As long as you don't become a binge eater or gourmet, you're as good as you can be murdering people to survive. It's not ideal and it's scary as crap. But you're not alone," she offered.

"I can't do it," Kaneki whispered before Blair glanced at her phone. Gray was heading out now. Taking a leap of faith, she knelt by Kaneki, an arm around his shoulders. "I don't want to do it. I can't," he half-sobbed.

"Yes, yes you freaking can! Now, sit tight and eat cookies you little piece of crap. I'll be back with proper food to replenish this screwed up body of yours." She got up grabbing her skateboard and left closing the door behind her, anger bubbling under the surface now as she turned it over in her head. "And maybe I'll add that doctor's head too," she muttered laying her skateboard down on the sidewalk. "Maybe a leg or two of his as well if I have time."


	5. Chapter 5

5

" **You're late," Koral** greeted as Blair walked into Anteiku the next morning. "And you never came back last night from your break. What the hell is wrong with you?" Koral demanded, scrubbing the dirty dishes harder and harder as her annoyance began to get the better of her.

"I had stuff to do and people to kill," Blair answered smoothly slipping on her apron. "We'll tell you later. Right now, I'm going to go greet the customers. Don't break anything while I'm gone," she added with a teasing tone.

"Shut up. And who is we?"

"Gracen and I, duh."

"Uh huh. So, you were with Kaneki _all night long_ , huh?"

"Depends. Were you snogging Hide all night?" Blair retorted easily, making Koral blush and scowl in that odd facial expression she frequently made in Blair's presence. "No, I didn't think so. You don't have the guts to make a move." Her smile was charming and demonic. "If you must know Rize came back to life after the accident through Kaneki. So shut up and do your work."

The cup that had been in Koral's white knuckled grip dropped back into the sink like her fingers had been coated in butter. Droplets of dirty sink water sprayed Koral's face and uniform, but she didn't even flinch as her eyes widened behind her glasses and she breathed shallowly."W-what?"

"I'll explain in a few," Blair hissed turning to leave.

"Blair, I swear you're the one who leads me to smoking." Koral muttered, pushing up her glasses as she regained herself and resumed washing the dishes.

"Well you're driving me to hard liquor." Blair informed her before leaving Koral, a smile plastered on her face for the customers.

 **Once the morning** customers were taken care of, Blair went back into the kitchen to join Koral. Currently she was leaning against the counter, lazily spinning a knife as her batter mixed. Seeing as they were alone, Koral went for some answers she deserved.

"Rize is now Kaneki?"

"Yeah, in a way of sorts. His organs were replaced with Rize's, that…" Blair started to mutter too low for Koral to hear but she got the jist of Blair's probable colorful words. "Anyway, now Kaneki is a one-eye. Pretty cool if you ask me. I didn't know it was possible to make one eyes."

Koral dropped the dishes she had been holding back into the soapy dish water in the sink before gripping onto the counter. Her knuckles turned whiter than humanly possible, her skin practically so clear you could see the cells running through her veins. Blair opened her mouth to say something, but was cut off by Koral letting out a series of terrible yells. "Damn it. Damn it, damn it, _DAMN_ IT!" She yelled before clamping a paled hand over her mouth. She screamed against her skin before letting go, whirling around, and leaning her back against the counter, sliding down it as she pulled her knees to her chest. Her breath was heavy and uneven, escaping her in soft gasps past her chapped lips. "That's a load of crap. Kaneki doesn't deserve our kind of life. He's one of the best people I know." Tears started to fill her eyes. Smudged eyeliner that hadn't been taken care of properly the night before started to make the tears look like ink that ran down her face. "He's so sweet to everyone, always so damn polite and helpful." She wiped away her tears, staining the grey cuff of her dress sleeve with inky black smears, before hugging her knees to her chest tighter. "He knows things about people, but doesn't prod or tease like others. Hell, the kid couldn't hurt a flea. And even if he did, he'd apologize to the damn insect." Her voice started to soften as she gulped. "It's not fair for him to get dragged into this kind of life, especially not being born into it.

"It's just so damn unfair," she finally whispered, groaning after the last word escaped her.

"That's a _lot_ of money in the swear jar," Blair commented offhandedly. "You should get some fake curses like me." She shut off the mixer letting a silence cover them. "And are you just saying that because Hide is his best friend?" Blair teased her body tense, her expression teasing at the fact that she was uncomfortable with the emotion in the environment.

"Blair, I swear to―"

"It was a joke!" Blair interrupted. "To lighten the mood. Clearly it didn't work." She rubbed her upper arm, knife pointing towards the ground, her eyes simple and as innocent as Blair can get.

"This isn't the time to be joking Blair! Can't you take this seriously?" Koral could only think to glare at Blair. She was sitting there like nothing was wrong. Her body was tense due to _her own uncomfortableness._ It was like she didn't care about Kaneki.

"I'm still a kid. I don't get a lot of stuff. Jokes are supposed to be funny. People like jokes right? Clearly not you though."

Koral glared at Blair before pushing herself off the ground, brushing her skirt off before turning back to the sink with tense shoulders. "I get it. Sorry, I forgot your whole sucky mom and disaster of a childhood." She paused before setting back her dish and turning around, adjusting her glasses. "Sorry again, that sounded harsh. I mean, well, it _sounded_ like that but I meant―"

"It's fine. We don't need to bring up that catastrophe." Blair ate a bit of her cookie dough. "I get why you yelled, I guess. But emotions are so complicated and weird and I always pick the wrong ones so… It's all I know. You're a sucky mother in your own right. You raised me wrong." Her voice was no longer stifled with lost emotions; it was back to teasing.

Koral laughed before punching Blair playfully in the shoulder. "Shut up you nitwit. I'm a great mom friend! You're just too blinded by your non-existent emotions to see it."

"Since when are you British?"

"Nitwit is a pretty American word, dumbo."

"I'm better than an elephant with big ears, punk. But you don't look much better than one. Besides, my emotions were beat out of me. Blame the failure, not me. My only crime is murder."

Koral rolled her eyes before picking up a towel and wringing it her hands. "Uh huh, yeah that's the _only_ crime you've ever done." She coughed with a smirk before muttering, "Jaywalker.

"You do it too. You're a horrible mother. Shame on you."

"I know." Koral gave in before wringing the towel tighter in her grip. "Anyway, back to Kaneki…"

Blair cleared off a nice spot for herself on the counter before climbing up on and laying down, closing her eyes with a moan. Laying down on her back, she was able to resume spinning her knife in her fingers effortlessly and without cutting herself in the slightest. "No more crying due to emotions!"

Koral smirked before picking up a random spoon and poking Blair in the stomach with it. "You really care for him and don't know how to deal with, don't you?"

"Woman! I know where you sleep! I know where you eat! I know when you breathe! I can _KILL_ YOU!" She held up her knife as if it were her middle finger. "Don't doubt me, punk. My job _is_ to _kill_. I'm the hunter of the group! Fight me!"

Koral laughed before backing away, holding her arms up in surrender as she turned back around to the sink. "Alright, alright. I gotcha, Miss in-denial. I won't prod anymore _if_ you stop with the Hide thing. At least you have a chance with your guy one day―if you ever learned emotions, that it―but it's kind of cruel how you go on with the Hide thing." Koral's shoulders slumped as her pruned hands went back into the soapy water and resumed washing dishes. "I couldn't give a move back even if he made the first one."

"I'll cut you for the Miss in-denial." Blair responded. "But… Here's a try at emotions. Hide is a good person. Why not give him the time of day? Try a little." Blair suddenly felt very small and very exposed and the feeling didn't sit well with her. "Don't push him so far away. I don't know. I'm rambling." Blair paused her knife spinning. "Emotions are awkward." She looked at Koral. "Don't make me use them a lot."

Koral sighed, turning around as she started drying a cup. "Don't you think I know he's nice? I mean, we've known each other for such a long time… But you should know what I mean. Like, how you now have a better chance with Kaneki. He's… one of us. Kind of. In some kinds of ways. Hide's a human. No man's land."

"The manager," she mused before shaking her head. "Nah, seems awkward. You already eat ghouls."

Koral's jaw dropped before she started tucking strands of hair behind her hair, but ultimately failing from the choppy layers of her hair. "Wha- Wait! You know I only do that when... Wait, I just-! What…? Huh?!"

"Nothing, nothing." Blair waved the stammering girl off as she sat back up, legs swinging over the counter edge before she stood back up and started back on baking her ghoulish desserts. "Thinking out loud is a really dumb idea."


End file.
